title: Quantification of taurine in energy drinks using ¹H NMR.
abstract: The consumption of so called energy drinks is increasing, especially among adolescents. These beverages commonly contain considerable amounts of the amino sulfonic acid taurine, which is related to a magnitude of various physiological effects. The customary method to control the legal limit of taurine in energy drinks is LC-UV/vis with postcolumn derivatization using ninhydrin. In this paper we describe the quantification of taurine in energy drinks by (1)H NMR as an alternative to existing methods of quantification. Variation of pH values revealed the separation of a distinct taurine signal in (1)H NMR spectra, which was applied for integration and quantification. Quantification was performed using external calibration (R(2)>0.9999; linearity verified by Mandel's fitting test with a 95% confidence level) and PULCON. Taurine concentrations in 20 different energy drinks were analyzed by both using (1)H NMR and LC-UV/vis. The deviation between (1)H NMR and LC-UV/vis results was always below the expanded measurement uncertainty of 12.2% for the LC-UV/vis method (95% confidence level) and at worst 10.4%. Due to the high accordance to LC-UV/vis data and adequate recovery rates (ranging between 97.1% and 108.2%), (1)H NMR measurement presents a suitable method to quantify taurine in energy drinks.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Luitpoldstraße 1, 97082 Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address: monika.hohmann@lgl.bayern.de.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hohmann
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Luitpoldstraße 1, 97082 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Felbinger
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Luitpoldstraße 1, 97082 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Christoph
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Luitpoldstraße 1, 97082 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wachter
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiest
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Holzgrabe
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D061215:Energy Drinks / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D066244:Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods; D013654:Taurine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013654:Taurine
keywords: Energy drinks; Quantitative (1)H NMR; Taurine